Supervision practices in library and information science postgraduate research in Nigeria and South Africa

Abstract

In this study, supervision practices in library and information science departments in Nigeria and South Africa were examined. The sample framework consisted of master’s dissertations and doctoral theses, completed from 2009 to 2015, which were available in the Directory of Open Access Repositories. Qualitative content analysis was used to generate the data used for the study. The data was presented in tables. The main findings showed that the majority of the theses and dissertations were sole-supervised. Co-supervision was more prevalent in dissertations than in theses. The major subject areas of the co-supervised theses and dissertations were information sources/studies and user services; while the major subject areas for sole supervised theses and dissertations were user services, records/knowledge management and information sources/studies. A few master’s degree holders worked together as cosupervisors, but most co-supervision involved collaboration between professors and doctorate holders. In contrast to sole supervision, cosupervision is recommended because it provides an opportunity to share knowledge and learn by doing while enhancing the learning and research experience of students.